Classic Evidence Flashcards
Who wrote the classic evidence for the Behaviourist approach?
Watson and Rayner (1920)
What was the name of Watson and Rayners study?
Conditioned emotional reactions
What was the Methodology of Watson and Rayners (1920) study?
Sample consisted of just one 9 month old male infant (little Albert)
Not and experiement as there was only one condition - effect of stimuli on Little Albert
Controlled observation
What was the the first step of the procedure of Watson and Rayners research?
Emotional tests - Alberts reponse to a number of Stimuli was tested , only reacted to a steel bar getting struck
What was the the 2nd step of the procedure of Watson and Rayners research?
Session 1 - Establishing a conditioned response
11 month old Albert brought to lab, presented with rat, when Albert reached for it, bar was struck
What was the prodedure of session 2 (3rd step of the procedure of Watson and Rayners research) ?
Session 2 - testing conditioned response
A 11 month 10 days old Albert was exposed to ‘joint stimulation’ when he reached for the white rat (5 times) becoming more and more distressed each time
What was the procedure of session 3 (4th step of the procedure of Watson and Rayners research) ?
Session 3 - generalisation
To see if a link had been made
A 11 month 15 day old Albert played happily with blocks and other objects , but reacted harshly to the rat and a white rabbit - NO BANG
What was the procedure of the session 4 (5th step of Watson and Rayners research) ?
Session 4 - changing environment
11 month, 20 day old Albert was taken to a vastly different room with 4 other observers , tested , then was had his fear response ‘freshened up’
What was the procedure of session 5 - (6th step of the procedure of Watson and Rayners research)?
Session 5 - the effect of time
At 12 months and 21 days , Albert was tested for a final time , with a Santa mask, a fur coat , the rat , a rabbit , the dog and the blocks
What were the findings of the final tests on Albert, Watson and Rayner conducted?
The final test showed that after time had passed , Albert still showed fear in the face of furry objects , but none towards his building blocks
What were the findings of the 5th test on Albert , Watson and Rayner conducted?
In a new environment , Albert has less extreme responses to conditioned stimuli , but after ‘freshening up’ his response to the stimuli was stronger
Still played happily with his building blocks
What were the findings of the 4th test on Albert , Watson and Rayner conducted?
Albert played happily with the blocks but when faced with the rat , showed immediate fear , cried also when he saw a rabbit but not a dog or human hair
What were the findings of the 3rd test on Albert , Watson and Rayner conducted?
A week after his first exposure to joint stimulation, Albert refused to reach for the rat
Then subjected to 5 more instances of joint stimulation, becoming more and more distressed each time
What were the findings of the 2nd test on Albert , Watson and Rayner conducted?
Albert was now shown the rat , when he reached for it bar was struck , this was repeated twice , his reaction of fear intensified the 2nd time
What were the findings of the orginal set of tests on Albert Watson and Rayner conducted?
Albert showed no fear response to any objects before conditioning - showed an immediate and fearful response to the metal bar being struck
What conclusions can be made from Watson and Rayners (1920) findings?
That fear can be conditioned and that conditioned fear can be generalised to other objects with similar qualities (e.g white fur)
What is a strength of Watson and Rayners study?
It was a controlled study - meaning it took place in an environment in which extraneous variables were controlled and conclusions could be drawn
What are three weaknesses of Watson and Rayners (1920) research?
Bias sample - 1 male child who is very calm
Did not account for any previous conditioning (e.g primal fear of loud noise) - instead explained all with the learning theory
Hugely unethical
Evaluate the Methodology of Watson and Rayner (1920)
Bias sample - 1, very calm, male, infant
Controlled study as it took place in a ‘lab’ so EVs could be controlled , also there was a control condition (the building blocks) which showed the direction of Alberts fear
What were the 3 ethical issues of Watson and Rayner? (1920)
Creating fear
Risk of psychological harm
Lack of informed consent gained
Explain the ethical issue of creating fear for Watson and Rayner (1920)
Researchers knew they were causing Albert stress but didnt stop
Putting an infant through repeated fear exposure is in no way shape or form acceptable
Explain the ethical issue - risk of psychological harm for Watson and Rayner (1920)
They kept making fear response worse by removing his thumb from his mouth, which made him even more afraid .
Could have caused Albert life long psychological harm
Explain the ethical issue - lack of informed consent for Watson and Rayner (1920)
The sample consisted of a child who was unable to give consent
The childs mother was not made aware of the studys intentions , in fact , she ended up withdrawing Albert - suggesting she was unhappy with the study - however it was still published
How old was little Albert during session 1? (2nd step of procedure)
11 months 3 days
How old was Little Albert during session 2 (3rd step of procedure)
11 months 10 days
How old was Little Albert during session 3? (4th step of procedure)
11 months and 15 days
How old was Little Albert during session 4? (5th step of procedure)
11 months and 20 days
How old was Little Albert during session 5? (6th step of procedure)
12 moths 21 days
